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Partymagic
07-31-2007, 09:35 PM
Hi there, I am going to Disneyland next month and I have not been in 10 years. I am wondering if anyone can tell me what Photopass is and how it works?

Thanks so much!

The Little Mermaid
07-31-2007, 11:23 PM
From the "About" section of Disney's PhotoPass Website (http://www.disneyphotopass.com/default.aspx):

To get started, have your photos taken by any Disney's PhotoPass Photographer. You can find them in all of our Walt Disney World ® Resort and Disneyland ® Resort Theme Parks as well as at our Florida Water Parks and at World of Disney ® New York. You'll then be able to:

* Order high-quality prints of your favorite photos, plus get all of your Disney's PhotoPass photos on a CD!
* Share your photos online with friends and family
* Enhance your photos with character signatures and fun Disney borders -- even crop them to suit your needs
* Create customized photo greeting cards

When you have your picture taken by one of Disney's photographers, they'll hand you a coded card that you keep with you. As you have pictures taken by other Disney photographers throughout the park, you hand them the same card. It's important to remember to save that card at the end of the day so you can go online to see/order them. If you lose the card though, don't fret. Disney can usually help you find your pictures and/or get them transferred to a new card.

Here's a 'lil tip: Don't be shy about asking the photographer to use your personal camera to take a picture. Every photographer I've asked to do so has done it cheerfully (and it's nice to actually be included in my own pictures once in a while)!

SANDYMARIE
08-01-2007, 02:23 AM
Oooh! This is exciting! I will keep an eye out for these guy's. I just love the books you can have made with your Disney photos. This is a must!!! :D

TTFN

DizneyMommy
08-01-2007, 05:15 AM
You might want to check out the prices before you go, though, and get an idea of how many you really want to pay for. It's not cheap and I have always been happier with the quality from my own camera - now if I could just get a cast member to take a photo that's not blurry :-)

Mrs Mouse
08-01-2007, 08:11 AM
We took full advantage of the PhotoPass system on our trip last month, and absolutely loved it. Rather than the photographers snapping one or two quick photos (and then hoping that they're good shots), as it was before, now the photographers snap pretty much continuously so that you have many, many photos to choose from in the end. They're also taking more candid shots now as well and not waiting until you strike the perfect pose. The end result is more pictures to choose from, some unexpected captured moments, and better quality photos in the mix as well.

If you have multiple cards in your group, or take many photos over the course of your trip I would definitely reccommend buying the PhotoCD as you then own all of your images and are free to do what you wish with them.

Partymagic
08-01-2007, 08:47 AM
Wow, thanks for all the information, it was really helpful to me. I think that I might check it out while we are there the first week of September. According to the site it is free to register so I am assuming that you can view the pictures without paying for them? Does anyone know the cost of the pictures if you do decide to purchase or the cost of the CD? I can't seem to find that on the site without registering.

Thanks so much:)

Mrs Mouse
08-01-2007, 10:08 AM
You are able to take your cards in to the photo store on Main Street and view them there, just as you could with the old system. Or you can register your PhotoPass card for free online and view your pictures that way. Once you register the card, your account with the pictures on it is available for 30 days.

Not positive on the cost of the individual pictures, but I know that you can purchase them in the park or online once you return from your trip. I am assuming that the purchase price is still the same as it was prior to PhotoPass, but I certainly could be wrong.

The CD cost us $50, if I remember correctly, and we were able to combine all of our PhotoPass cards onto the one CD. In the end I think it held about 200 photos (I know! :eek:). Once you buy the CD you own the images and can print off as many as you want, or do whatever else you wish with them.

If you have a ton of pictures on your card, like we did, the CD option really makes sense. For others, it may be cheaper to buy individual photos that they like. The good thing about this system is that it is pretty flexible that way.

Clotho
08-01-2007, 11:16 AM
Okay, so I heard that the CD of all your photos costs $124.99 now. It was up to $99 earlier this year. Can anyone confirm the cost? And also confirm that we don't have to buy anything until we have seen the photos?

Drince88
08-01-2007, 11:18 AM
I believe you are right on the increased cost of the CD - I think it was $99 when they introduced the option.

You do NOT have to purchase anything, put in a credit card number, or anything other than an email address to view your pictures online. I am 120% positive on this. (Unless they changed something in the last couple of months)

Andrew
08-01-2007, 11:38 AM
You do NOT have to purchase anything, put in a credit card number, or anything other than an email address to view your pictures online. I am 120% positive on this. (Unless they changed something in the last couple of months)
You are correct. You can even download smallish versions of your photos from the PhotoPass site.

codewoman
08-01-2007, 12:12 PM
On Sunday I went to view our (approx 30) photos online and discovered the photo CD was $134 (online). I could swear a Photopass guy (the one who took our first pictures) told us it was $60!!!! :eek: Perhaps it's cheaper if you get it at the parks before you leave? :(

SillyOldBear
08-01-2007, 12:55 PM
We were there in June and took full advantage of the photo pass. There is a difference when you buy the photopass at the park vs. buying it online. At the park you can get the pass for $49.95 or $59.95 ( I can't remember). You get all the pictures but you can't edit or add borders etc. to the photos. If you choose to wait to purchase the CD at home, you have the option of adding borders, frames etc. to your photos and then saving the edits to the CD. That is my guess as to why there is a significant price difference between the two. So, if the frills aren't important to you, the best deal is to get the CD at the park. We asked every cast member with a camera to take our picture. We found that we did need to ask. Many cast members were standing there with cameras but not approaching the guests, so we just approached them and they were happy to take multiple pictures for us. We got some great shots and ended up with 75 pictures on our CD. We thought that was pretty good. We will certainly do it again.

codewoman
08-01-2007, 01:02 PM
We were there in June and took full advantage of the photo pass. There is a difference when you buy the photopass at the park vs. buying it online. At the park you can get the pass for $49.95 or $59.95 ( I can't remember). You get all the pictures but you can't edit or add borders etc. to the photos. If you choose to wait to purchase the CD at home, you have the option of adding borders, frames etc. to your photos and then saving the edits to the CD. That is my guess as to why there is a significant price difference between the two. So, if the frills aren't important to you, the best deal is to get the CD at the park. We asked every cast member with a camera to take our picture. We found that we did need to ask. Many cast members were standing there with cameras but not approaching the guests, so we just approached them and they were happy to take multiple pictures for us. We got some great shots and ended up with 75 pictures on our CD. We thought that was pretty good. We will certainly do it again.

Bummer! I soooo wish we'd done this there. Sigh.

SillyOldBear
08-01-2007, 01:45 PM
I'm sorry Codewoman! :crying: At the time we purchased our CD, we didn't even realize that we could get the CD online. I'm glad we didn't know because we might have decided to wait. The cast members told us that we could order prints online, but no mention of the CD. I like the borders and text you can add to the prints, but personally it isn't worth the extra money to us. Now we have our CD and we are happy to have Costco print our pictures.

amarvel
08-01-2007, 07:56 PM
ok i want to clarify.... i dont care about the borders or the frills, so if i buy the cd at the park, it will be cheaper? will it still be all the images and will I be able to print those images anywhere i want or use my own photoshop to edit them (crop, etc)??

thanks!

Glass Slipper
08-01-2007, 09:15 PM
Rather than the photographers snapping one or two quick photos (and then hoping that they're good shots), as it was before, now the photographers snap pretty much continuously so that you have many, many photos to choose from in the end. They're also taking more candid shots now as well and not waiting until you strike the perfect pose.

We have always loved having pictures taken by the CMs because we like to have some "professional-looking" photos as souvenirs, along with our own digital pics. So I really hope that with Photo Pass, the CMs are still taking some good "pose" shots and not just all candid ones. I'd hate to spend over an hour in the photo shop at the end of the day searching through 50 or more pics trying to make a decision:(

WDWizard
08-01-2007, 09:32 PM
Interesting that they do PhotoPass in World of Disney NYC.

I wonder why they would put the PhotoPass there..Maybe because tourists to NY visit that store, but I'm sure an average New Yorker walking by wouldn’t want to be hassled to get their picture taken.

Mrs Mouse
08-02-2007, 08:08 AM
We have always loved having pictures taken by the CMs because we like to have some "professional-looking" photos as souvenirs, along with our own digital pics. So I really hope that with Photo Pass, the CMs are still taking some good "pose" shots and not just all candid ones. I'd hate to spend over an hour in the photo shop at the end of the day searching through 50 or more pics trying to make a decision:(

Oh no, that's not what I meant at all! They certainly still take the "professional-looking" posed shots, they just take more of them in addition to some candid ones. If you're meeting Pooh Bear, for example, they'll still take the posed photos, but they'll continue shooting throughout the whole visit, so if anything cute happens you've got it on camera. We wound up with some great photos of my niece and nephew hugging characters, dancing with characters, playing games, etc. that way.

SillyOldBear
08-02-2007, 08:47 AM
Amarvel-yes, from my experience, the CD is much cheaper if you buy it at the park. I would suggest you check at the Photo Store or with a Photo Pass cast member to be certain. That way you will know if the price has changed.

Yes, you will get all of the images (I have noticed that it can take up to 1/2 a day for photos taken to show up on your photo pass card so be aware of this if you are having pictures taken on your last day). You will be able to edit/crop using whatever program you use at home and yes, you can print the photos either at home or at another location such as Costco. I hope that helps clarify.

MickeyFan4Ever
08-02-2007, 10:15 AM
I definitely recommend the Photopass system, even if it is expensive. It is a great back up. My husband and I took a brandnew digital camera with us to the park in May. I accidentally erased all of our first day photos, but at least we had back-up for a lot of them on the Photopass. I recommend that you use it fully through out your visit. You can always check them online or at the Photo shop on Mainstreet before you leave to decide if you want to buy the CD. If you are happy with all of your personal photos and it isn't needed, then it doesn't cost anything. Win, win, if you ask me!

amarvel
08-02-2007, 12:42 PM
thank you sillyold bear!! my dslr camera has been acting up and i was nervous it would die on us at disneyland, so we are going to take advantage of the photopass system and i am sooooo happy to hear its cheaper at the park and that I will be able to crop and do stuff to the pics once home.

Clotho
08-02-2007, 02:39 PM
I just love that there is no obligation, and it is conveniently all centrally put together to look at. We will definitely try it out,and see if we decide to buy...

hayjennn
08-03-2007, 08:46 PM
Does anybody know if you can add the photo's they take of you on the rides to the photo pass cd?? I know those are great candid shot's. If anybody is going to DLR soon and you are actually getting the cd would you mind asking for me?? Thanks If I don't get a response here, I will ask in October when I go and ask then and post the answer for everybody.

SillyOldBear
08-04-2007, 12:38 AM
Hayjennn-We were there in June and at that time you could not add the ride pictures to the photopass. Someone else might know if that is something Disney is working on, but when we asked in June no Cast Member could give us much information. It sure would be great if you could add them though.

hayjennn
08-04-2007, 12:40 PM
Thanks, we were there in June too, but I didn't know anything about the photo cd thing. I just remember looking at the $14.95 price for a 5x7 of one ride picture. So we did what a lot of other people do, took a picture of there picture. I know it was probably wrong but .......